New footage from the frontlines in Ukraine has shown Russian Lancet drone strikes to neutralise two German made Leopard tanks in Ukraine’s Kupyansk region. The Russian Defence Ministry on September 22 reported that strikes by the country’s western military group neutralised the tanks and three other vehicles, with the commander of the brigade responsible confirming that both Leopards were neutralised at 8am that day. The tanks referred two were older Leopard 1s, although newer Leopard 2s including cutting edge Leopard 2A6 variants have also been destroyed in numbers during Ukraine’s attempted offensives since early June. The Leopard 1s’ destruction came as part of broader strikes by the western military group on Ukrainian forces near the settlements of Artemovka, Sinkovka, Berestovoe and Ivanovka in the Lugansk and Kharkiv regions.
The release of footage from Lancet drones showing the targeting of Ukrainian assets has become increasing common, with a strike earlier in the week shown to have neutralised a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet by striking it directly through its cockpit from 80km away. The drones have succeeded Iranian supplied Shahed 136 drones to become the most feared Russian assets in the theatre and the country’s primary strike aircraft in Ukraine. Their potency has increased as Ukrainian air defences have simultaneously become increasingly depleted, with Soviet era stocks of surface to air missiles running short and replenishments delivered by NATO members falling far short of keeping up with expenditure rates. Leopard 1s, although supplied in their hundreds, have been considered obsolete for decades, with Russian forces having gained much more notable recent victories against other kinds of Western armour including the reported neutralisation of over 80 American Bradley fighting vehicles and two British Challenger 2 tanks.